Erase this
by Rinne
Summary: Theft happens everywhere. Nikki is not impressed when she's affected by it in the FBI office. Gen. Nikki, Charlie, Don, Colby, David, Liz. COMPLETE
1. Erase this

Title: Erase this

Genre: Gen

Rating: PG

Characters: Nikki, Charlie

Spoilers: General for season 5

Prompt: lj comm numb3rs100 279 sour.

Word count: 100

Disclaimer: Own nothing, not being paid.

A/N: Because fic should be based on real life and apparently I unintentionally write to the current prompt when annoyed. Not betaed, so please feel free to point out any mistakes.

Summary: Theft: it happens everywhere.

* * *

"Ah, Nikki, would there happen to be an eraser around?"

Nikki looked up from the open file in her hands. She'd blanked the professor out twenty minutes previously. Shifting against the desk, she said, "Huh?"

"There's no erasers, for the whiteboard."

"You're kidding me." She looked around, seeing that Charlie wasn't. "Damnit. I had to _sign_ for those damn erasers after the last ones wandered off."

"There's a thriving black market trade of erasers in the FBI office?" Charlie asked, bemused.

"It's starting to look like it," Nikki said sourly. If she found who'd stolen them, they'd really regret it.

-FIN-


	2. Further Instructions

Title: Further Instructions Will Follow  
Genre: Gen  
Rating: PG  
Characters: Don, Colby  
Spoilers: General for season 5  
Prompt: lj comm numb3rs100 180 Hostage  
Word count: 200  
Disclaimer: Own nothing, not being paid.  
A/N: Prompted from a conversation with my sister about the missing whiteboard eraser (which has been found in real life and rescued) and the previous drabble. Not betaed, so please feel free to point out any mistakes. I'm not sure where this is headed, so there may be more drabbles.

Summary: The whiteboard erasers are still missing and Colby decides to have some fun with Nikki.

* * *

The way that Colby scanned the office as he stepped out of the conference room caught Don's attention. He'd been so casual that it was almost furtive.

Don waited to investigate until after Colby had gone into the break room. Nothing stood out to him when he entered the conference room...until he looked at one of the whiteboards. Below Nikki's scrawled message demanding the missing whiteboard erasers be returned or there'd be hell to pay was a photo held in place by a magnet.

Don had to snigger. In the photo was a blue plastic whiteboard eraser, a black strip of cloth wrapped around its middle like a blindfold. There was also a newspaper with the day's date in the background. Pinned by a magnet below was a printed piece of paper with a message:

_This is a ransom note. Your whiteboard erasers will be returned for 100 red pens. Further instructions will follow_.

Don knew that Colby wasn't behind the original theft, he was just having a bit of fun at Nikki's expense, but he couldn't wait to see how Nikki reacted when she saw it. He was also wondering just how much further the fun would go...

TBC?


	3. Ransom Received

Title: Ransom Received (Erase This 3/?)  
Characters: Nikki, Liz, Don, Colby, David  
Spoilers: General for season 5  
Prompt: lj comm numb3rs100 38 Discovery  
Word count: 100

* * *

"-to find out. Nik, are you listening? Oh."

As Nikki stared at the board, trying to decide whether she was going to be annoyed or amused, Liz laughed.

"Hey, guys, look at this," Liz called as the rest of their team entered the room. There was laughter as they all looked at the ransom note Nikki had been left.

"Okay, which one of you clowns did it?" Nikki asked, her tone forceful.

Don put his hands up in a don't look at me gesture and she dismissed him. "Yeah, yeah, boss, I know, you're Switzerland."

She made an educated guess.


	4. Accusation

Title: Accusation (Erase this 4/?)  
Prompt: lj comm numb3rs100 101 Interrogation  
Word count: 100

* * *

"Granger," Nikki said, hands on her hips.

"Me?" Colby blinked, the picture of innocence, and pointed at himself. "Why would I steal the erasers?"

"I didn't say you did. Fraud stole them. You, however, are responsible for this." She gestured at the ransom note.

It was Colby's style, Nikki knew, so odds on the joke was his. There was a slight twitch of Colby's lips that indicated she was right.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Colby denied.

"Uh huh," Nikki said with a derisive snort. "Like any of us believe that."

"I do," David said with a shrug.


	5. Knowing vs Proving

Title: Knowing vs Proving (Erase this 5/?)  
Characters: Nikki, Liz, Don, Colby, David  
Prompt: lj comm numb3rs100 11 Possibility/Probability  
Word count: 100

* * *

"Of course you do," Liz said with a roll of her eyes. "You were probably in it together."

"Just wait a minute," David said, his finger up in emphasis. "I did_ not _have anything to do with this. But maybe you did."

"Me?" Liz looked at him like he was an idiot. "Why would I do something this immature?"

"This is all beside the point," Nikki said loudly. "Granger did it."

"You got any proof?" Colby asked.

"No," Nikki reluctantly admitted, "but I know it was you."

"Knowing and proving are two very different things, Nikki."

Annoyingly, he was right.


	6. Another Approach

Title: Another Approach (Erase This 6/?)  
Characters: Nikki, Charlie  
Prompt: lj comm numb3rs100 182 Negotiation  
Word count: 200

* * *

"I'm guessing Colby?" Charlie said, a bemused grin on his face as he tapped a marker against the whiteboard.

"Um, yeah. Well, not that he's admitted it," Nikki said with a shrug, refusing to smile at the photo of the hostage eraser. It was funny, but she wasn't going to give Colby the satisfaction, even if he wasn't there to actually see it.

"But he didn't take the other erasers, right?"

"Yeah, that was definitely Fraud. One of them had been over here a day or so before they went missing and Don's been by their section since to check it out. It's definitely them."

"Nobody has asked for them back?" Charlie naively asked.

"They'd just deny that they'd stolen them," Nikki said. "I've been planning a midnight raid—they're more nine to five then we are—but haven't gotten around to it yet."

"What are you going to do about Colby?"

Nikki shrugged again. That was something she hadn't figured out yet.

"May I make a suggestion?"

"By all means."

"The eraser is a hostage. So, negotiate."

"Negotiate," Nikki said doubtfully. "For an eraser."

"One eraser is better than none."

That was certainly true. She'd give it more thought.


	7. The Fine Art

Title: The Fine Art (Erase this 7/?)  
Characters: Nikki  
Prompt: numb3rs100 208 Photograph  
Word count: 100

* * *

Ten red pens were all that Nikki was initially willing to offer. It wasn't like Colby had a dozen whiteboard erasers, he likely only had the one that he'd probably been stupid enough to buy with his own money. She was going to get the pens from supply—she didn't have to sign for _them_.

Colby's reply was a new photo of the eraser. The 'blindfold' was still in place, but the eraser was sitting on the edge of a desk, poised to fall into a trashcan below.

She raised her offer to ten red pens and five blue pens.

TBC...


	8. Hostage Exchange

Title: Hostage Exchange (Erase This 8/?)  
Characters: Nikki  
Prompt: numb3rs100 183 Rescue  
Word count: 100

* * *

It had taken three days, but Nikki had finally come to an agreement with Colby. The eraser would be traded for ten red, ten blue, and ten black pens and Colby would join her later when she raided Fraud to get back their stolen property. Of course, Colby still hadn't admitted that it was him, but, considering that they were meeting to do the hostage exchange, she'd get her confirmation soon enough.

Nikki had to roll her eyes when Colby sauntered over, waving the eraser at her and looking slightly sheepish.

"It was kinda obvious that it was you, Granger."

TBC...


	9. Trust and Mistrust

Title: Trust and Mistrust (Erase This 9/11)  
Characters: Nikki, Colby  
Prompt: numb3rs100 36 Relinquish  
Word count: 100

A/N: Chapter 8 did not appear to get bumped up on the site list of fics for Numb3rs, so if you didn't read part 8, make sure you do so. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

"So, are we going to do this, or what?" Nikki asked.

"Um, yeah."

Neither of them made a move.

"Hand over the eraser," Nikki said, gesturing with her chin.

"You hand over the pens first," Colby countered.

"Yeah, right, Idaho. Like I'm going to trust you after all of this? Seriously? You've got to be kidding me."

"Oh, I'm hurt, Betancourt."

Nikki held her ground, arms crossed in front of her chest, foot tapping against the floor.

"Okay, fine," Colby finally gave in. "Here, have it."

He held onto it for a moment before letting her take it from him.

TBC...


	10. Pens

Title: Pens (Erase This 10/11)  
Characters: Nikki, Colby  
Prompt: numb3rs100 179 Truce  
Word count: 100

* * *

Pens handed over, Nikki had to ask why. "Why do you need that many pens, anyway?"

"Don has a bad habit of accidentally appropriating them."

"And nobody wants them back after Don's used them," Nikki finished for him. They'd all had that happen to them, including Charlie and Amita. She'd even seen some of the techs frantically shoving anything that might resemble something that Don could put in his mouth out of sight when they'd seen Don approaching.

"Yeah. Plus it gives me something to throw at David."

"You ready to raid Fraud?" Nikki asked with a grin.

"Hell yes."

TBC...


	11. The Circle of Life

Title: The Circle of Life (Erase This 11/11)  
Characters: Nikki, Colby  
Prompt: numb3rs100 186 Campaign  
Word count: 100  
A/N: And the silliness is finally at an end. Hope you've all enjoyed it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.

* * *

"It's odd."

"Hmm?" Nikki said as she looked around Fraud's conference room. _Oh, yeah._ There were the erasers.

"I didn't take the photo of the eraser with the trashcan."

That stopped Nikki in her tracks. "You didn't?"

"Nope," Colby said. "I was just going to give you a counter offer, but the photo was already there."

"David, then?"

"Maybe."

She dismissed it. It wasn't important. This was what was important: recovering their stolen property. She gathered up the erasers and put them on a desk and gave Colby a wicked grin. "I was thinking, we're a little short on markers..."

-FIN-


End file.
